On the afternoon of February 8, Aman Hussain’s brother Anas, a student of Class 8, was not at home when violence broke out in Haldwani, the largest city in Kumaon region of Uttarakhand, and a gateway to Nainital, one of the most populated hill stations of north India. Worried that Anas would get caught in the melee, his father Zahid Hussain, a 48-year-old construction material supplier, went looking for him.
“Minutes later, our neighbours told us that my father was lying in a pool of blood,” recalls Aman. “I took him to a clinic nearby. My stomach turned when I saw Anas lying there on a stretcher with a bullet injury below his waist.”
That evening, Anas and Zahid bled to death. They were two of the four people who died during the violence that day. A fifth victim, who had been shot, succumbed to injuries days later.
